April 3, 1851. A man who escaped slavery is grabbed off the streets of Boston and thrown into a carriage. He fights back, shouting to the crowd, but it doesn’t matter. Under a new federal law, even the North isn’t safe.

The Fugitive Slave Act has turned cities like Boston into hunting grounds. Freedom seekers are being captured, and ordinary citizens are being forced to help.

But across the North, resistance is growing. In Pennsylvania, a man named William Parker is building a network to fight back. When slavecatchers come to his door, that resistance explodes into violence.

How did one law push the country dramatically closer to war? And what happens when the people targeted by this law refuse to surrender?

Special thanks to  Dr. Iris Leigh Barnes, director of the Hosanna School Museum; Christy Coleman, public historian and museum executive; Kellie Carter Jackson,  chair of the Africana Studies Department at Wellesley College; and Jamahl Wimberley, who provided the voice of William Parker.

Get in touch: [email protected] 

Follow on Instagram: @historythisweekpodcast

Follow on Facebook: ⁠HISTORY This Week Podcast⁠

To stay updated: http://historythisweekpodcast.com